28 May, 2017

Iraq: US military admits failures to monitor over $1 billion worth of arms transfers

The US Army
failed to keep tabs on more than $1 billion worth of arms and other
military equipment in Iraq and Kuwait according to a now declassified
Department of Defense (DoD) audit, obtained by Amnesty International
following Freedom of Information requests.

The
government audit, from September 2016, reveals that the DoD “did
not have accurate, up-to-date records on the quantity and location”
of a vast amount of equipment pouring into Kuwait and Iraq to
provision the Iraqi Army.

“This
audit provides a worrying insight into the US Army’s flawed – and
potentially dangerous - system for controlling millions of dollars’
worth of arms transfers to a hugely volatile region,” said
Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s Arms Control and Human
Rights Researcher.